Chicago Boys
by Bridgr6
Summary: Mac makes a new friend named Max, who is alone and needs someone to care for him. Mac will discover what it takes to parent and care for a child and in the end he will realize that not only does Max need him, he needs Max.
1. Making Friends

Stella and Mac slowly approached the crime scene. Stella ducked under the tap and heard a wailing coming from within a small circle of cops. As she peered into the circle she noticed a little boy, no older than two, crying, while the cops around him tried to comfort him.

"Who's this?" Mac asked as Flack looked up from making his funny faces at the little boy.

"We don't know because we can't get him to stop crying" Flack whined looking desperate. Mac nodded knowingly and then crouched down in front of the little boy and stared at him at eye level. Mac then pulled the little boy into a hug and rubbed his back

"Hey buddy…it's going to be alright ok?" Mac said. To all of the cops' surprise the little boy stopped crying and wrapped his little arms around Mac's neck and sniffled into his shoulder. After a few moments Mac pulled away and held the boy at arm's length. "My name is Mac…what's yours?" Mac said now giving the little boy a reassuring smile.

"Max!" the little boy squeals now jumping up and down in front of Mac.

"Ok Max…you see that big black truck over there?" Mac asks pointing to his black Avalanche. Max nods.

"Well I'm gonna go for a ride in it…do you want to come?" Mac asked and the little boy nodded and jumped up excitedly.

"Ok then," Mac said and then turned and said to Stella and Flack in a quiet voice "Im going to take Max to the lab to see if he knows the vic"

"Ok," Stella said as she watched the little boy grab Macs hand and walk with him to his truck.


	2. Ink and Evidence

Mac past the lab's security and nodded at the guards who gave him curious looks. He and Max stepped into the elevator and rode up to the 36th floor, the labs floor. Every time the light would light up when the elevator reached another floor, Max would gasp and his eyes would get bigger. When they reached the Lab Mac grabbed Max's hand and they walked out into the lobby. Mac was aware of everyone's stares as he walked with Max still gripping his hand. Lab techs leaned out of doorways to get a better view of Mac and the little boy. Mac quickly walked to his office but wasn't relieved from the stares because all of the walls of his office were glass. He sighed as he stared at Max, who was now staring intently at Mac. Mac noticed the boys shirt was ripped a little so he dug in his drawer and came out with a toddler sized Chicago Cubs jersey he had gotten from Stella as a practical joke when the Cubs lost the world series to the Yankees. Mac picked up Max and took him to the DNA lab where he could avoid the stares. He set Max on a steel table and grabbed a pair of surgical gloves. He then removed Max's torn t-shirt and placed it into and evidence bag. Max didn't seemed to mind because he was to focused on the gloves Mac was still wearing. Mac took out his camera and Max smiled as he snapped a picture of his stomach and a small bruise on his side.

"Tummy!" Max squeaked as Mac photographed him some more. Mac chuckled a little and then set the camera down and pulled the Cubs jersey over his small head. Mac then carefully checked Maxs fingernails for evidence but found none. Now came the fun part Mac thought as he took out his fingerprinting set. He opened the ink and looked at Max intently,

"Don't worry Max this won't hurt…can I see your finger," Mac said. Max replied by sticking his thumb in the air. Mac gently grasped his finger and stuck it into the ink. Immediately Max giggled and smiled. Mac placed his finger on a note card and labeled it. Mac repeated this procedure with all of Max's fingers. When Mac was done he set his kit on the floor and as he looked up a pair of little hands covered his face. Mac chuckled and lifted Max's hands off his face but the damage had been done and his face was now streaked with black ink. Max giggled and did the same to his own face. Mac and Max sat laughing for a minute or two and then there was a small knock on the glass door. Mac looked up and saw Jane Parsons, head of the DNA lab, standing in the doorway smiling.

"Having fun?" she asked seeing Macs face covered in ink.

"A little," Mac asked smiling at Max.

"So who's this little ball of sunshine?" Jane asked smiling at Max.

"This is Max...he was at the Janet Custow scene… we think he might be a relative so I took his prints,"

"Hence the ink covered faces I presume," Jane asked laughing a little.

"He started it," Mac explained trying to look innocent.

"He's too cute to blame…anyway what brings you to my fortress…are you hiding from someone?" Jane asked.

"Not someone…everyone," Mac said with a smirk and then lifted Max into his arms. "Well we have to clean up so I'll talk to you later Jane.

"Bye," Jane replied waving to Max and smiling as they left the DNA lab.

"Too cute," Jane mumbled to herself,, smiling as she went back to work… and she wasn't talking about Max.


	3. Waffles for Breakfast

Mac washed most of the ink off of both his and Max's face and ran Max's prints and ran his prints through the system to see if he was missing. Mac hoped for Max's sake that there would be a hit, but after a half hour of waiting he decided to take Max on a small tour.

"Okay and this is where we eat," Mac told Max as they came to the break room. "Are you hungry?" he added.

"Waffles!" Max said excitedly.

"OK I think I can make that," Mac said and went to the refrigerator. He opened the freezer and was relieved to find a box of frozen waffles. He took them out and placed one waffle for Max and to for himself into the toaster. As Mac got two plates he noticed Max standing and staring intently at the toaster. Mac set the plates down, crouched next to Max and stared at the toaster with him. After a few seconds he started counting "Ten…nine…eight," and then Max joined in. "seven…six…five…four…three…two…one!" they both yelled and the waffles popped almost exactly on their count. Max laughed gleefully and Mac smiled at him. Mac helped Max sit and as he looked up from cutting his waffles he saw Max trying to stick the entire waffle into his mouth.

"No Max," Mac tried to correct sternly but couldn't help but smile. "Here let me," Mac took Max's plate and cut his waffle into bit size pieces. As Mac pushed Max's plate back to him heard him say "fank-you," and he smiled at the little boy's manners.

"Hey I've been looking for you," a voice said from behind him and he turned to see Stella entering the break room. "Hi Max," she added when she saw him sitting across from Mac. "So Mac I picked up your results and found out his full name and it's Max Hathaway," Stella said quietly to Mac as she watched Max pretend a piece of waffle was an airplane.

"Any family?" Mac whispered back.

"No he is currently living at St. Marie's Orphanage, which coincidently is only a half a block from our crime scene. Stella said.

"Good…good we can take him back after he's done," Mac said even though truthfully he would rather of had more time to spend with Max.


	4. Saying Goodbye

Mac got out of the car and opened the back door to help Max out of the car seat that Stella had helped him install for the trip. He helped Max out of the car and as they approached the Orphanage the front door flew open and a young woman came racing towards them. She ran and hugged Max.

"Thank god…Max don't ever, ever, ever run off on me like that again," she said through tear-filled eyes. She turned to Mac and then threw her arms around him. "Thank you so much for bringing him back…I don't know what I would have done if anything happened to him." She said.

"It's alright the good thing is that he's alright, but I might need to ask him a few questions if anything new comes up in the case…if that's alright." Mac said.

"Yeah just call if you need anything." She said and Mac nodded and turned to leave, but felt someone grab his leg. He looked down and saw Max holding onto his leg.

"Mac come too?" he asked as his eyes started to fill with tears. Mac crouched down so that he was eye level with Max.

"No Max I can't…this is your home and someday soon Ms. Hallaway here is going to find you a family that will love you and make you happy. This isn't goodbye Max I'll see you again…I'll come visit…ok?" Mac said.

"Waffles?" Max asked.

"Yes…we'll have waffles," Mac said as Max hugged him goodbye. Mac stood and walked to his car,not looking back , afraid to look back at what he would miss.


	5. Missing

Two days later…

"Hey Stel did you identify the blue smudge on the vic's sweater?" Mac asked walking into her office.

"I ran it through IBIS..I'm just waiting for the results," Stella said looking up from her papers. Mac nodded and stood silently. Stella looked at him and her brow furrowed.

"What's buggin ya Mac?" she asked looking concerned. Mac ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

"It's been two weeks Stella and we are no closer to catching this guy than we were when we first got this case…we know that she was killed by someone who had access to her office but everyone in her building is clean and has an alibi…I just don't know…maybe I should go see Mac…see if there is anything he remembers…I guess I'm just stuck." Mac said.

"OK…I'll call with the lab results," Stella said. "Oh and Mac?" she said calling after him. He turned to face her "we'll catch this guy…we always do," she told him, he nodded and smiled slightly before leaving the room.

Mac walked to his office and grabbed his coat. As he walked out of his office he heard his phone ring. He sighed and walked back to his desk to answer it.

"Taylor," he said.

"Detective Taylor…this is Agent Anna McKinley with the FBI…your witness to the Janet Custow case, Max Hathaway, has been kidnapped," a woman's voice said.


	6. New Faces

When Mac arrived at the St. Marie's orphanage there were already quite a few officers out front and the black SUV's parked in front told him that the FBI had arrived. Mac walked into the orphanage and could feel the tension in the air around him. He walked into the living room and spotted Ms. Hallaway sitting on the couch with a tissue in her hand. A tall, blonde woman, who he assumed was Agent McKinley, was sitting beside her, trying to comfort her. There was a male agent sitting at a table working setting up a system to trace the calls from the Orphanages' phone. Both women looked up as Mac approached them and Agent McKinley stood and held out her hand.

"Agent Anna McKinley," she said as Mac took her hand.

"Detective Mac Taylor," Mac said as he shook it and then he released it and turned to Ms. Hallaway, who looked on the brink of panic. He sat down next to her and placed a hand on her back.

"It's going to be alright Ms. Hallaway…we'll find Max," Max said reassuringly.

"Call me Josie...I can't believe it I just left the room for three minutes and I came back and he was…gone," Josie said and burst into tears.

"Did they call you?" Mac asked her softly.

"I was looking everywhere for Max and then the phone rang…they said they wanted forty-six thousand dollars or they would hurt Max…I don't have that kind of money," Josie said through tears.

"Don't worry Josie we will sort all this out and we will get Max back," Mac said and got up to talk to Agent McKinley, who was in the kitchen.

"Do you have any leads on the call?" Mac asked.

"No they used an automated voice and the call was made from a telephone booth in the Bronx…which is being examined for any evidence. Whoever these people are…they are smart and quick and have been planning this for a while," she said.

"Any evidence found at the telephone booth or here can be sent to my lab to be analyzed," Mac said and McKinley laughed.

"Of course this will be a fight of jurisdiction…but as you know the Bureau has a lab that is perfectly capable of analyzing evidence," McKinley said.

"I don't care about jurisdiction, but I do care about Max and if I can find a little piece of evidence…anything at all that can bring Max home safe…I would like the chance to be able to," Mac said. McKinley thought about it briefly while staring at Mac and weighing her options.

"Fine…but anything you find is to be reported back immediately to me," she said and then walked out of the room. Mac sighed and looked around the small kitchen. It had pictures of Josie with small children, including Max. Mac was about to leave the kitchen when he looked to his left and saw three pairs of eyes staring at him from the stairs. He smiled and approached two little girls and a little boy, who lived at the Orphanage. The two little girls were wearing multi-colored dresses and looked to be about three or four years old and the boy was wearing jeans and a Mickey Mouse t-shirt and looked about two.

"Hi I'm Detective Taylor," Mac said crouching in front of them and showing them his badge. The little boy's eyes lit up as he looked at the badge and smiled.

"Max gone?" the little boy asked as Mac handed him his badge to look at.

"Yes but me and the rest of my team are going to work as hard as we can to find him ok?" Mac told them and they all nodded.

"Do you remember anything before Max left?" Mac asked and they all shook their heads no. "Ok why don't you go and sit with Ms. Hallaway…I think she's lonely," Mac said as the little boy handed him back his badge.

"Josie sad?" the little boy asked.

"Yeah Josie's sad," Mac said and all three of the kids ran into the living room to be with her. Mac stood up and put his badge back on his belt. He smiled to himself when he heard Josie say "Hey guys" as the children all rushed to her and laugh for the first time since Max had gone missing. He was still in the kitchen when he heard a voice behind him.

"You're pretty good with kids…did you know Max well?" he heard McKinley say from behind him. He turned around.

"I met Max a few weeks ago when he was at a murder scene…we asked him questions but he didn't know anything and while we processed his clothes he stayed with me," Mac said rubbing his hand on the back of his neck.

"And you bonded? McKinley said filling in the blanks.

"Yeah…he's a smart little boy," Mac said and looked up at McKinley for the first time since the start of the conversation. "I'm going to find him…I owe him that much," Mac said. McKinley nodded and as they stood there, Mac's phone rang and he left the room to answer it.

McKinley watched him leave and couldn't help but feel a little affection towards the Detective…he had a kind heart and he obviously took his job seriously…not to mention he was handsome. She was quickly pulled out of her thoughts and scolded herself just as her phone rang.

"McKinley," she said.

"This is Georgia…we've got the telephone processed," a woman's voice on the other end said.

"Good send it to the NY Crime Lab," McKinley said.

"If you say so," Georgia said and then hung up. McKinley stood holding her phone…it was time to find Max…before it's too late and truthfully they needed all the help they could get.


End file.
